Well the second round of the Italian Open is well on the way now and Andy Murray has finished his first match of the tournament against Xavier Malisse, which he came through after a real struggle and an error strewn performance against the spirited Belgian in 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. In a way it was a miracle that Andy managed to pull through this match as his performance was pretty poor, to be fair his return game was for the most part really good but his service game was terrible, as he dropped so many first serves, with it down as far as 50%. First serves has always been Andy's main achilles heel in tennis and today was a bad one, however where he won was mostly on attacking Malisse's service, and Andy did produce some excellent shots, as did the Belgian. In the first set Andy did play quite well, but in the second he lost control of the match letting Malisse in to take the second set, but in the third Andy pulled it back despite making more errors, but he did at least serve out the match in style with 3 much needed aces. And yes he has finally trimmed his barnet hairdo a bit!
So again it wasn't a pretty win by any means, but Andy is once more through to the 3rd round, but the worrying thing is he really needs to improve his game this week otherwise he will be out early again like last week in Madrid. At least in his post match interview he admitted his game was too much up and down, so he was honest, which again is one of Murray's best traits, being honest and not giving any excuses. His next opponent will be either the Serb Victor Troicki or Potito Starace, either one could be troublesome for Andy so he really will need to step up his game if he wants any chance of getting through. One thing is for sure if he maintains this form he won't, and even if he did, he would get torn apart by Djokovic in the semis. So c'mon Muzza, pull it together lad! At least he has the day off tomorrow to concentrate on his game more, just hope it helps.
In another match Robin Soderling saved a match point against Fernando Verdasco in the second set to take it to a 3rd set, where Verdasco double faulted three times to hand Soderling three match points in the 3rd. In a way another good comeback, well better than Murray's for sure.
On the WTA side of things Francesca Schiavone advanced through the third round after a convincing defeat against American Christine McHale in 6-3, 6-1, as did Maria Sharapova who took out fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova in 6-1, 6-1. The rest of the top players will play tomorrow also on the ladies side we have Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur and Victoria Azarenka. On the ATP side we have the top 3 out with Rafa, Djokovic and Federer all starting their blanket massacre campaigns. ;-)
More to follow!
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